The Garrison Common Cottages, also known as the Robinson Cottages, are one-storey houses southeast of Trinity Bellwoods Park. They predate Confederation, lack heritage protection and some have been demolished recently. The house at 40 Mitchell Ave., right, has recently been sold and may also be vulnerable.

What's worth keeping?

That's the question facing Toronto as some parts of the city experience rapid, intense development: Which buildings deserve to be protected as heritage?

And downtown, a group of neighbours is casting their attention to a set of cottages that are older than the country – but which are being cut down. Stories such as this one are a symptom of heritage planning that is constantly trying to catch up with development proposals, and city staff are considering a major effort to get ahead of development and aggressively study the entire city.

Now dubbed the Garrison Common Cottages or Robinson Cottages, the houses, originally 40 or 41 of them, were built as workers' housing between 1858 and 1865 on what's now Adelaide Street West and Mitchell Avenue. Two have recently been demolished for new development and two more, at 40 and 44 Mitchell Ave., have just been sold.